AWS User Group Finland re:Invent 2024 re:Cap at Gofore

The first AWS User Group Finland meetup of 2025 was all about looking back at re:Invent 2024. I had announced this event back in December as the last announcement before quieting down for the holiday season, and I hoped people would show up with their batteries charged. Gofore sponsored the evening, with a big thank you going to Tiia Hietala for making it happen on their side. We opened RSVPs right after New Year, and 47 people showed up on a cold January evening to hear what happened in Las Vegas.

These recap events are always one of my favorites on the meetup calendar. Not everyone gets to attend re:Invent in person, so hearing firsthand accounts from community members who were there is genuinely valuable. The presentations covered the biggest announcements, favorite sessions, and those small discoveries that you only make by wandering the expo floor and talking to people.

There was solid discussion around the new service launches and what they might mean for teams building on AWS here in Finland. The Q&A sections turned into real conversations, which is exactly what makes these community events worthwhile.

Gofore put together a good spread at their Urho Kekkosen katu office – pizza from Putte’s, which is always a crowd-pleaser – and the networking afterwards ran longer than the talks themselves. A strong start to what turned out to be another very active year for the Finnish AWS community.